“But in the case of the Indian mass movements there was also the simple external fact that in no case were the forces supplied by the Western Churches adequate to secure the necessary continuity in the work and the after-care that is so urgently needed by simple and illiterate Christians. Experience shows that intensive pastoral care must be supplied during a period of thirty years before a Christian community of this kind can be regarded as stable. In hardly any case was this possible. As a result, far too much came to be taken for granted; it was assumed, mistakenly, that the sons and grandsons, who had not shared the experiences of the first converts and the persecutions that almost invariably followed upon their decision to become Christians, would follow loyally in the same steps. In many cases failure in pastoral care resulted in the existence of masses of baptized heathens, and, when once a movement has run down in this way, it is very difficult to get it started again.”
“It is not everything that the flesh desire it must have, feeding it with all it desires”
“And—you can be very sure of this—all who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ; who have seen the all-importance of the soul; who have seen their dread condition under the condemnation of the law; who have believed in Christ and His sacrificial death; who have committed themselves to Him, taking upon themselves the scorn and sarcasm of the world; those who have counted all things loss for his sake, who have denied themselves and taken up their cross daily and followed Him; those who have said, “I care not what happens to me as long as all is well between me and Him”—these are they who will be with Him in the new heaven and the new earth and will share and enjoy His glory for ever and ever.”
“The worst things of Christ, His reproaches, His cross, are better than Egypt s treasures.”
“It’s not what we know that will change the world; it’s how we love others and share the gospel (good news) that will ultimately win back the effectiveness of missional outreach.”
“The gospel call invites us to apprentice ourselves to Jesus, become pilgrims along the compassionate way, and journey deeper together into the heart and life of God. In our contemporary setting, however, Christians often look more like bustling tourists than faithful pilgrims patiently engaged upon an eternal pilgrimage into Divine Love. Countless people today make periodic excursions into the spiritual supermarket in pursuit of a novel offer, but few seem willing to sign up as pilgrims in the lifelong adventure of discipleship.”
“All of us are born like boats without an anchor. The currents of life carry us in unintended directions. With the gift of the Spirit comes not only an anchor, but a rudder, a wheel, and a map. The Christian need not drift; he can steer.”
“If men do not have a clear and true perspective of the Christian life, they will not understand what they are attempting, and thus the attempt itself will be naive and ill-measured.”
“Hard work cannot be avoided. Spritual fruit, like natural fruit, requires the sweat of the brow.”
“The English word education comes from the Latin word educare, which literally means to live out . An education is far more than preparation for a job. To be educated is to be prepared to step into reality and to find a place, not only in society, but before God.”
“A lot of contemporary Christians do not believe that growth requires effort.”
“Hanging out with the right men will often be more effective than spending hours in a lecture hall.”
“How shall we ever help a Christian brother and set him straight in his difficulty and doubt, if not with God s own Word? All our own words quickly fail.”
“The call of discipleship is the invitation to follow Jesus. The condition for discipleship is to engage in a ministry similar to his. We are called to engage in life-affirming, God glorifying, agony-eradicating ministry. We are called to partner with Jesus in service, not pain. Pain is a consequence of discipleship. It is not a lifestyle, a life sentence, or a life goal. Pain only signals the level of opposition to ministry. It is not the measure of discipleship; ministry is. (p. 166)”
“If we buy into the church culture of celebrity, we drift away from following Jesus faithfully.”
“Имаше един ден, в който Георг Мюлер умря; мненията му и предпочитанията му, вкуса и волята му - беше мъртъв за света, одобренията му или критиките му. Бях мъртъв за одобрението или обвинението дори на братя или приятели, и оттогава се стремя само да се покажа одобрен от Бога.”
“The lamp and the salt have a power to transform, an ability to change the obvious into the wonderful. That’s the task of the disciple: to turn the ordinary, the bland, and the dark into an extraordinary occasion that gives glory to God.”